Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE MINISTRY of Education has endorsed the call by the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) for the prosecution of parents and children who abuse teachers.
"I think that parents who walk into schools and inflict injury to teachers should be charged," said Senator Noel Monteith, State Minister for Education Youth and Culture. "Undoubtedly, we must send the strongest message that we do not tolerate such behaviour."
Last week Ruel Reid, the JTA President-elect, in addressing a gathering of teachers at the Kingston Bookshop Teacher's Day Luncheon in Montego Bay, called on teachers who come under attack from violent parents and students to seek legal redress.
The senator concurred with the JTA that teachers need to feel safe in their working environment.
"They are there to work with the students and protect them," he said. "They need protection as well. Parents have no right to (be abusive) because whatever the problem is, there is a course that they can take without taking the law into their own hands."
However, while in agreement with the JTA's stance, Senator Monteith was quick to add that when it comes to making complaints to the Ministry there is a procedure that needs to be followed.
"If the (abuse of teachers) happens and a claim is made, our approach is that we have to get a full report and seek the guidance of the Attorney-General's office," he said.
NO RECORDS OF COMPLAINTS
When The Gleaner enquired about teacher complaints, a ministry spokesperson disclosed that there were no records of any such complaints being made.
"Complaints are not usually lodged to the Ministry from teachers, they are usually lodged from the principals to the school boards and any other legal ramifications go to the Attorney General," explained Dorrett Campbell, the ministry's director of communications.
The issue of whether teachers should sue for abuse meted out to them by parents and students comes on the heels of a recent incident in which three students of Kingston-based Immaculate Conception High School spat into a teacher's water bottle. Another student distracted the teacher while one stirred the contents to prevent the teacher from knowing what had taken place.
Reid also cited another incident in which a teacher fell down and broke her arm during an altercation with a parent who believed that the teacher had no right to discipline her six-year-old.
